Sports
With Olympic gold secured, could Team USA players potentially team up in the NBA?
SOMEWHERE OVER THE ATLANTIC OCEAN — Now for the question you know you’ve been dying to ask for three weeks about the Team USA men’s basketball “Avengers”: With their gold-medal mission accomplished, which players on this star-studded squad are going to join forces on an NBA team down the road?
With the national team’s rich history of such things, it’s only natural to wonder. The Miami Heat-les trio of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh that teamed up in 2010 had USAB roots, as they grew close while playing together in the 2006 FIBA World Cup in Japan and Beijing Olympics in 2008.
The Golden State Warriors dynasty had a similar story, with Kevin Durant, Andre Iguodala and Stephen Curry bonding in Turkey at the FIBA World Cup in 2010 then finding a way to come together six years later (Iguodala and Durant were also together on the 2012 Olympic team in London). Just last week, longtime NBA veteran and ESPN commentator Kendrick Perkins claimed that James Harden, while playing for Team USA at the London Olympics, was strongly encouraged by his superstar teammates to leave his sixth-man role with the Oklahoma City Thunder that summer and pursue a more worthy role elsewhere (he would be the centerpiece of the Houston Rockets by that October).
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But the tricky part about this phenomenon, and the thing that makes it so hard to handicap whether we’ll see a super team spawned out of the Paris Games, is that you’d need telepathic powers to figure out if any of these All-Stars are truly thinking about playing together down the road. This sort of process isn’t typically linear, with other developments needing to unfold on each player’s respective NBA squad before those Team USA connections come into play. What’s more, the freedom that comes with free agency, more often than not, plays a part.
Yet when it comes to the relationships that appear to have grown these past four weeks — from Las Vegas to Abu Dhabi, London, Lille and the City of Light — there are a few worth highlighting and monitoring.
But the thing to remember, and the factor that always plays a pivotal part when stars decide to align, is that it all starts with the competitive status of their current team. To that end, we begin with two legends in advanced age who have eight NBA championships between them but whose teams were home by the end of April.
LeBron and Steph
This one gets top billing because of what went down at the February trade deadline, when we learned Curry’s Warriors made an unsuccessful bid to the Lakers for LeBron. That sort of breadcrumb, one that was so fascinating to consider after all the years they’d spent as rivals during all those Cavs-Warriors NBA Finals face-offs, tells you two things that still remain relevant.
- Curry had given a thumbs-up to the idea, which reflects a level of comfort between the two even before they worked so beautifully together en route to Olympic gold.
- The Warriors clearly had intel suggesting this was a pitch worth making. At the time, James was approaching his (possible) free agency, and there seemed to be enough questions as to whether he’d want to stay in Laker Land that it led to a conversation between Golden State owner Joe Lacob and the Lakers’ Jeanie Buss.
James signaled he’d rather stay put, and the whole idea died on the vine as a result. But he would go on to sign a two-year, $101.4 million deal, one that includes a player option in the second year and a no-trade clause. Point being, the same Warriors-Lakers dynamics could be there again this upcoming season — especially if the Lakers are struggling in the kind of way that makes James rethink his strategy in these final few years. As a relevant sidenote, Team USA/Warriors coach Steve Kerr seemed to click with James all the way through as well.
There’s one massive problem with that plan, though: Bronny James now plays for the Lakers. It’s hard to imagine LeBron wanting to go anywhere now that his son is wearing the purple and gold. So, could the 36-year-old Curry become so fed up with the diminished help around him in Warriors World that he heads for the exits and somehow pairs up with the 39-year-old James and fellow Team USA star, 31-year-old Anthony Davis?
It seems unlikely, what with Curry’s stated goal of playing his entire career with the Warriors. But he’s a competitor of the highest order, one who just saw his team say goodbye this summer to his beloved backcourt mate, Klay Thompson, this summer while failing in its pursuits of Paul George and Lauri Markkanen. With that backdrop, it’s worth a reminder that he made this ominous comment to Yahoo! Sports’ Vincent Goodwill while at Team USA’s Las Vegas training camp in early July.
“It’s always been my goal, and I’m saying that sitting in this chair right now,” Curry said about retiring with the Warriors. “But like you said, life, and especially life in the NBA, it is a wild environment, and things change quickly.”
In terms of Curry’s contract, he has two seasons left ($55.8 million and $59.6 million) and is eligible to add one more year on an extension this summer. Warriors general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. made it clear what the organization wants, telling our Anthony Slater that Curry can have “whatever he wants” and that he is “pretty confident he will be a Warrior for life.”
Again, it’s nearly impossible to see how these kinds of superstar pairings might get manifested in advance. There’s the Father Time factor to consider as well, as there’s no way of knowing how long James or Curry can stay elite enough to make these sorts of power plays worthwhile.
But this much we know: Curry and James played beautifully together in the Olympics, with James (who was named MVP) consistent throughout and Curry becoming an American hoops hero by saving Team USA in those last two spectacular games.
The fact that they clearly enjoyed each other’s company — constantly goofing around at practices and celebrating with such joy together after the biggest of wins — is of equal importance.
When it was over, after Curry put France to bed with that 3-point flurry and said “Nuit, Nuit” before closing the door, James decided to post the picture that perfectly captured their shared spirit.
KD and Steph
The news conference after the Team USA gold-medal game — with Kerr, Curry and Kevin Durant all raving about one another on the same podium — was the kind of thing I never could have imagined five years ago. It happened from start to finish, with Durant and Curry sharing a mutual admiration society news conference at the start of the Olympics as well.
When Durant left Golden State for Brooklyn in free agency, there was a fair amount of shared baggage from their three years spent together. You don’t have to be Dr. Phil to figure that out, as Durant came very close to winning three consecutive championships — within a torn Achilles tendon, in fact — yet chose to head for the exits. But feelings evolve over time, and Curry and Durant spent the entire Team USA journey sharing the kind of deep reverence that was there during the best of times in their Warriors days.
On Curry’s side, it was notable the first-time Olympian would routinely reference Durant’s three gold medals (now four) and standing as the best Team USA player of all time. Durant, in turn, spoke glowingly about who Curry was, and remains, both on and off the floor.
Yet while the Warriors are clearly on the prowl for another big-time star, and with a known commodity like Durant certainly fitting that bill, Phoenix Suns owner Mat Ishbia emphatically insisted the 35-year-old wasn’t going anywhere in late June in response to speculation of a possible Durant departure.
NBA Draft night is the best. Everyone talking about the drama and storylines, some are right and some are just wrong.
My turn. Phoenix loves Kevin Durant and Kevin Durant loves Phoenix, and we are competing for a championship this year because we have the team to do it. Gotta…— Mat Ishbia (@Mishbia15) June 26, 2024
But how might Ishbia feel if they fall short again? Or Durant, fellow Team USA member Devin Booker or Bradley Beal, for that matter? Only time will tell, but the Suns’ first-round loss to Minnesota in last season’s playoffs wasn’t the sort of start any of them envisioned in their first season together.
Booker and … Kerr?
When the gold-medal game news conference was nearing an end, after they all fielded several questions about Curry, Durant and James, Kerr grabbed the microphone and announced that he had one more thing on his mind.
“Devin Booker is an incredible basketball player,” said Kerr, who chose to start Booker for every Olympic game en route to him averaging 11.7 points (team-best 56.5 percent from 3) and 3.3 assists. “Nobody asked about him, (but) he was our unsung MVP. I just wanted to say that.”
Curry, in turn, posted Kerr’s quote on his Instagram story and added the caption, “Damn straight!!!” while tagging Booker’s account.
For someone like Kerr, who is typically bound by the NBA’s tampering rules that tend to suppress an opposing coach’s public enthusiasm for another team’s stars, the Team USA environment allows him to speak his mind in the kind of way that could aid a recruiting effort one day. That’s not to say it was his intent, as Kerr seemed deeply genuine about Booker’s contributions. Even still, it’s a pretty convenient way to show a star player like Booker the kind of love he’ll never forget.
What’s more, the truth about the Suns is that rival teams are monitoring the desires of Durant and Booker. The Rockets, to cite one example I reported in late June, are among those teams that have Booker on their wish list.
But again, Ishbia has pushed back hard on this premise that these Suns will fail and he’ll be forced to blow it up amid all that pressure from the unforgiving luxury tax. They’re more invested in Booker than anyone else, with his contract running four more seasons for a combined total of approximately $220 million, and the notion of him being available anytime soon seems very unlikely. To hear Booker tell it at Team USA’s Vegas training camp in early July, he’s every bit as invested in this Suns group as Ishbia.
“I mean, I’ve never seen an owner do something like that before,” Booker said when I asked him about Ishbia’s tweet about Durant. “It just shows you what type of guy Mat is. He’s all in (on) the group that we have. We believe in the group that we have and the talent that we have.
“It’s not easy to win (a title), so I think having that hurt together and that experience together in the playoffs is going to help us moving forward. …Boston went through it (before winning it all in June). Obviously the (Celtics’) addition of Jrue (Holiday last summer) helped out a lot. But yeah, moving forward, you know, you live and you learn, and I think experience is the best teacher.”
The rest
Truth be told, we could workshop these fascinating scenarios all day.
Anthony Edwards and Durant became fast friends who were dynamic together in Team USA’s second unit, so does that mean the 23-year-old Minnesota Timberwolves star might find a way to persuade his favorite player to force a trade to his (frigid) part of the country? Don’t count on it — from either side. After Minnesota’s run to the Western Conference finals last season, and with Edwards’ star on a meteoric rise, it’s so-far-so-good for him with his current core.
Joel Embiid was desperately in need of help a few months ago, but the Philadelphia 76ers are all set for their next push after landing George in free agency and re-signing Tyrese Maxey.
Could Heat big man Bam Adebayo — whose running mate, Jimmy Butler, can be a free agent next summer — find the help he so desperately needs among his Team USA pals? Perhaps, but there are no visible dots to connect just yet.
The list, fanciful though it might be, goes on.
Required Reading
(Top photo of Stephen Curry and LeBron James: Aris Messinis / AFP via Getty Images)
Sports
Law firm fighting for women’s sports in SCOTUS battle comments on ruling possibly impacting SJSU trans lawsuit
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A law firm leading the charge in the ongoing Supreme Court case over trans athletes in women’s sports has responded after a federal judge suggested the case’s ruling could impact a separate case involving a similar issue.
Colorado District Judge Kato Crews deferred ruling in motions to dismiss former San Jose State volleyball co-captain Brooke Slusser’s lawsuit against the California State University (CSU) system until after a ruling in the B.P.J. v. West Virginia Supreme Court case, which is expected to come in June.
Slusser filed the lawsuit against representatives of her school and the Mountain West Conference in fall 2024 after she allegedly was made to share bedrooms and changing spaces with trans teammate Blaire Fleming for a whole season without being informed that Fleming is a biological male.
Meanwhile, the B.P.J. case went to the Supreme Court after a trans teen sued West Virginia to block the state’s law that prevents males from competing in girls’ high school sports.
The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) is the primary law firm defending West Virginia in that case at the Supreme Court, and has now responded to news that Slusser’s lawsuit could be affected by the SCOTUS ruling.
“We hope the ruling from the Supreme Court will affirm that Title IX was designed to guarantee equal opportunity for women, not to let male athletes displace women and girl in competition. It is crucial that sports be separated by sex for not only the equal opportunity of women but for safety and privacy. Title IX should protect women’s right to compete in their own sports. Allowing men to compete in the female category reverses 50 years of advancement for women,” ADF Vice President of Litigation Strategies Jonathan Scruggs said.
Slusser’s attorney, Bill Bock of the Independent Council on Women’s Sports, expects a Supreme Court ruling in favor of the legal defense representing West Virginia, thus helping his case.
(Left) Brooke Slusser (10) of the San Jose State Spartans serves the ball during the first set against the Air Force Falcons at Falcon Court at East Gym in Colorado Springs, Colorado, on Oct. 19, 2024. (Right) Blaire Fleming #3 of the San Jose State Spartans looks on during the third set against the Air Force Falcons at Falcon Court at East Gym on October 19, 2024 in Colorado Springs, Colorado. ( Andrew Wevers/Getty Images; Andrew Wevers/Getty Images)
“We’re looking forward to the case going forward,” Bock told Fox News Digital.
“I believe that the court is going to find that Title IX operates on the basis of biological sex, without regard to an assumed or professed gender, and so just like the congress and the members of congress that passed Title IX in 1972, allowed this specifically provided for in the regulations that there had to be separate men’s and women’s teams based on biological sex, I think the court is going to see that is the original meaning of the statute and apply it in that way, and I think it’s going to be a big win in women’s sports.”
The Supreme Court’s conservative majority appeared prepared to rule in favor of West Virginia after oral arguments on Jan. 13.
Slusser spoke on the steps of the Supreme Court on Jan. 13 while oral arguments took place inside, sharing her experience with a divided crowd of opposing protesters.
With Fleming on its roster, SJSU reached the 2024 conference final by virtue of a forfeit by Boise State in the semifinal round. SJSU lost in the final to Colorado State.
Slusser went on to develop an eating disorder due to the anxiety and trauma from the scandal and dropped out of her classes the following semester. The eating disorder became so severe, that Slusser said she lost her menstrual cycle for nine months. Her decision to drop her classes resulted in the loss of her scholarship, and her parents said they had to foot the bill out of pocket for an unfinished final semester of college.
President Donald Trump’s Department of Education determined in January that SJSU violated Title IX in its handling of the situation involving Fleming, and has given the university an ultimatum to agree to a series of resolutions or face a referral to the Department of Justice.
Among the department’s findings, it determined that a female athlete discovered that the trans student allegedly conspired to have a member of an opposing team spike her in the face during a match. ED claims that “SJSU did not investigate the conspiracy, but later subjected the female athlete to a Title IX complaint for ‘misgendering’ the male athlete in online videos and interviews.”
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SJSU trans player Blaire Fleming and teammate Brooke Slusser went to a magic show and had Thanksgiving together in Las Vegas despite an ongoing lawsuit over Fleming being transgender. (Thien-An Truong/San Jose State Athletics)
SJSU Athletic Director Jeff Konya told Fox News Digital in a July interview that he was satisfied with how the university handled the situation involving Fleming.
“I think everybody acted in the best possible way they could, given the circumstances,” Konya said.
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Sports
Myles Garrett cited for speeding a ninth time, an elite pass rusher seemingly always in a rush
Myles Garrett is in a hurry to become the greatest pass rusher in NFL history. The Cleveland Browns All-Pro defensive end set the single-season sack record in 2025 and has cracked the top 20 career leaders after only nine seasons.
“I’m going to take that down, and I prefer I take it down in the next five years,” Garrett told Casino Guru News last month.
Off the field, however, his urgency to get from point A to B is a problem. He’s accumulating speeding tickets at an alarming rate.
On Feb. 21, Garrett was handed his ninth speeding ticket since his NFL career began in 2017. He was cited for driving 94 mph in a 70-mph zone on Interstate 71 between Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio.
The citation from the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office says Garrett was driving his green 2024 Porsche at 1:35 a.m., returning home after attending a Miami of Ohio basketball game in Oxford.
Body cam footage shows the officer telling Garrett that she kept the charge under 100 mph so that a court appearance wouldn’t be mandatory. Garrett reportedly still holds a Texas driver’s license — he attended Texas A&M — and told the officer that he did not have an Ohio license.
Cleveland Browns’ Myles Garrett wears a jacket displaying his girlfriend Chloe Kim before the women’s snowboarding halfpipe finals at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Livigno, Italy.
(Lindsey Wasson / AP)
The officer wrote that the famously affable Garrett was “kind and cooperative,” and that drugs and alcohol were not a factor.
Garrett’s need for speed flies in the face of his persona. He has written poetry since high school, peppers social media with inspirational sayings and donates time and money to several charities.
His girlfriend is two-time gold-medal-winning U.S. Olympic snowboarder Chloe Kim, for whom he wrote a poem he shared on social media: “You enrapture fools to kings, and exist without a peer, put on this Earth for many things, but our love is why you’re here.”
Verse hasn’t slowed his roll. On Aug. 9 he was cited for ticket No. 8, clocked at 100 mph in a 60-mph zone in a Cleveland suburb a day after the Browns returned home from a preseason game at Carolina.
Garrett’s seventh ticket followed a frightening crash in 2022. He flipped his gray 2021 Porsche 911 Turbo S off State Road in Sharon Township and he and a female passenger were injured. He was cited for failing to control his vehicle due to unsafe speeds on what had been a slick roadway.
A witness told a responding police officer that Garrett’s vehicle went airborne, took out a fire hydrant and rolled three times. Garrett sustained shoulder and biceps sprains and was sidelined for the Browns’ game that week against the Atlanta Falcons. His companion was not seriously injured.
Cleveland television station WKYC reported that in September 2021 Garrett was stopped twice in a 24-hour period — for driving 120 and 105 mph. The infractions occurred on Interstate 71 in Medina County, where the speed limit is 70 mph, and he paid fines of $267 and $287.
A year earlier, Garrett was cited for driving 100 mph in a 65-mph zone of Interstate 77 — again while driving a Porsche — and paid a $308 fine. He accumulated his first batch of speeding tickets in 2017 and 2018, and the police reports recite similar circumstances: Garrett driving well over the speed limit, cited without incident, paid a nominal fine.
The piddly fines certainly aren’t a deterrent. Garrett, 30, and the Browns agreed to a four-year contract extension in March 2025 that made him the highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history at the time. The deal pays the seven-time All-Pro more than $40 million a season and includes more than $123 million in guaranteed money.
He set the NFL single-season sack record with 23.0 last season, surpassing the 22.5 accumulated by T.J. Watt and Michael Strahan. Garrett has 125.5 career sacks, averaging 14 a season, a pace that would enable him to break Bruce Smith’s career record of 200 in five years.
“That is definitely on my mind to go out there and get,” Garrett said. “That’s a goal I’ve had for years now since college.”
Garrett has declined to discuss his driving habits.
“I’d honestly prefer to talk about football and this team than anything I’m doing off the field other than the back-to-school event that I did the other day,” he told reporters after ticket No. 8 in August, referring to a charity appearance.
“I try to keep my personal life personal. And I’d rather focus on this team when I can.”
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Former ESPN broadcaster Keith Olbermann once again incited backlash on social media Wednesday after he called late legendary college football coach Lou Holtz a “legendary scumbag” in an X post on the day Holtz was announced dead.
“Legendary scumbag, yes,” Olbermann wrote in response to a clip of Holtz criticizing former President Joe Biden in 2020 for supporting abortion rights.
Olbermann received scathing criticism in response to his post on X.
“You’re a scumbag that needs mental help,” one X user wrote to Olbermann.
One user echoed that sentiment, writing to Olbermann, “You’re the real scumbag here. Lou Holtz had more class, integrity, and genuine decency in his pinky finger than you’ll ever show in your lifetime.”
Another user wrote, “You’re a grumpy, lonely, Godless man. All the things Lou Holtz was not.”
Keith Olbermann speaks onstage during the Olbermann panel at the ESPN portion of the 2013 Summer Television Critics Association tour at the Beverly Hilton Hotel July 24, 2013, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)
Olbermann has made it a pattern of sharing politically charged far-left statements that are often combative and ridiculed on social media, typically resulting in immense backlash.
After the U.S. men’s hockey team’s gold medal win, Olbermann heavily criticized the team for accepting an invitation from President Trump to the State of the Union address. Olbermann wrote on X that any members of the men’s team who attended the event were “declaring their indelible stupidity and misogyny,” while praising the women’s team for declining the invitation.
In January, Olbermann attacked former University of Kentucky women’s swimmer Kaitlynn Wheeler for celebrating a women’s rights rally outside the U.S. Supreme Court during oral arguments for two cases focused on the legality of biological male trans athletes in women’s sports.
Former Notre Dame football coach Lou Holtz listens before being presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom at the White House in Washington, D.C., Dec, 3, 2020. (Doug Mills/The New York Times/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“It’s still about you trying to find an excuse for a lifetime wasted trying to succeed in sports without talent,” Olbermann wrote in response to Wheeler’s post.
In 2025, Olbermann faced significant backlash after posting (and later deleting) a message on X aimed at CNN contributor Scott Jennings, that said, “You’re next motherf—–,” shortly after the assassination of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk.
Holtz was a stern supporter of President Donald Trump, even saying in February 2024 that Trump needed to “coach America back to greatness!”
Near the end of Trump’s first term, shortly after former President Joe Biden defeated him in the 2020 election, Trump awarded Holtz with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award of the United States.
After Holtz’s death was announced Wednesday, several top GOP figures paid tribute to the coach on social media.
Those GOP lawmakers included senators Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala.; Todd Young, R-Ind.; Tom Cotton, R-Ark.; and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.; representatives Greg Murphy, R-N.C.; David Rouzer, R-N.C.; Erin Houchin, R-Ind.; and Steve Womack, R-Ark.; and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis; Indiana Gov. Mike Braun; U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon; and Rudy Giuliani.
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Lou Holtz, former Notre Dame football coach, addresses the America First Policy Institute’s America First Agenda Summit at the Marriott Marquis July 26, 2022. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc)
At the time of publication, prominent Democrat leaders have appeared silent on Holtz’s passing, including prominent Democrats with a football background.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who worked as an assistant high school football coach; Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., who was a recruiting target for Holtz in 1986 as a college prospect; Rep. Colin Allred, D-Texas, who played in the NFL; and Rep. Kam Buckner, D-Ill., who played football for the University of Illinois, have not posted acknowledging Holtz’s death.
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